Thursday, September 17, 2009

On cable TV here in the US, it seems like "government takeover of healthcare" is some kind of nightmare. Last week in Ireland, I walked past this poster each morning on the way to catch the train to work. It showed the diametric opposite nightmare - corporate control of healthcare. The fear spread by the poster is that a "Yes" vote in the upcoming Lisbon Referendum in Ireland would result in health and education falling into the private sector. Given that a "Yes" vote would bring Ireland closer to France and Germany, that is about as likely as a "government takeover of healthcare" in the US. But it was certainly funny to see the mirror image of the US. I guess fear works on both sides of the Atlantic.